Professor Naomi Darling Awarded for Work on the Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library

By Ansley Keane ’23

Staff Writer

Naomi Darling, a Five College associate professor of sustainable architecture who teaches at Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently won the 2020 AIA New England Merit Award for Design Excellence titled “More with Less.” Darling received the “More with Less” Merit Award for her project, the Takahashi-Harb Loft and Library. Darling converted an unfinished walk-out basement into a bright and updated one-bedroom apartment and a two-car garage into a workspace for the Takahashi-Harb couple, complete with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. 

Darling attended Princeton University for her Bachelor of Science in Engineering in structural engineering and architectural design, Monash University for her Master of Fine Arts in sculpture and the Yale School of Architecture for her Master of Architecture. In addition to teaching, Darling has her own architecture and design practice, Naomi Darling Architecture, LLC.  

Darling became interested in architecture from a young age. “The first time I thought about [architecture] — I think I was seven or eight — I was home from school because I was sick,” she said. “My mom gave me these Victorian houses to cut out and put together, and I really liked the process of making.”

Her first year of college, Darling took an architecture class she “really loved.” In an interview with the online publication Madame Architect, Darling also explained that she “loved how the [architecture] course expanded [her] way of thinking demanding thoughtful reasons for the myriad decisions that go into design.” 

After she graduated from college, Darling didn’t jump right into the world of architecture. Instead, she explored pottery, sculpture and even worked as a scientist for the Sea Education Association before working at an architecture firm in Seattle in 2000. She has taught at Mount Holyoke since 2012. 

“I love interacting with the students,” she said. “The dynamic between students [at Mount Holyoke] is always really positive.” She explained that, in her perspective, “the built environment is one place where we can make a difference.” By showing students the fundamental principles of design, Darling said she “can make a bigger impact teaching.” 

The Takahashi-Harb project itself spanned from 2015 to 2018. One of the challenges Darling faced in completing the project was to make the space “not feel like a basement,” she said. She and her team put two large windows into the loft to take advantage of the property’s beautiful views and to “bring the outside in,” she explained. 

“Any project that you do is very much a collaboration between the architect, the site and the clients,” she noted.  

Another goal of the project tied into the theme of “More with Less.” “We had a pretty tight budget for that project and we were working with just a basement. The goal was to make it into something pretty special with this tight constraint,” Darling said. She noted that it was important to “keep as much as possible, while we were adding.” In order to accomplish that, Darling explained that she and her team kept many of the existing features such as the structural posts in the former basement and garage. 

According to her website, Darling dressed up the existing stairway and used preexisting electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems. By not removing the features already in place, Darling was able to put more money and effort into nice finishes and windows. Additionally, this style of design allowed Darling to maintain her focus on sustainability, and she said, “by keeping what’s there, there wasn’t as much waste.” 

As a professor of sustainable architecture, sustainability is an important aspect of Darling’s designs and projects. However, for Darling, sustainability expands beyond just environmental. “I try to look at sustainability very holistically,” she said. She focuses on social and cultural sustainability as well. 

In a class Darling teaches, she emphasizes working with the natural environment. “Being attuned to where you are [is important], so you don’t need to use a lot of energy,” she explained. Additionally, Darling explained that “for a project to work, it needs to be embraced by the people in that place.”

CAs Continue To Create Community Through Virtual Cohorts

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

Throughout the fall semester, Mount Holyoke created an array of virtual events in an effort to bring its community together online. One of the College’s new ways of creating community has been the formation of the Virtual Cohorts. 

“Our Virtual Cohorts were really just intended to bring students together in virtual ways so they still felt that sense of community,” Associate Director of Students and Director of Residential Life Rachel Allidis said. “We do have data that shows students feel a greater sense of community in the Living Learning Communities than when they live in a residence hall.” 

Some of the Virtual Cohorts’ themes are based on past LLCs, like transfer, first-year, art, outdoors and more. These are made to foster a greater sense of community in a time of need. There are also Virtual Cohorts based on students’ current geographical regions. 

Lexy Lee ’23, the Virtual Community Ambassador for the arts cohort, shared the story of “someone who said, ‘What if we had pen pals but with artwork?’” 

“Because there are people who are interested in all different types of artwork,” Lee explained, “we kind of just want to create a place where we can just make … a lot of different types of art and share.” 

A Virtual Community Ambassador is similar to a Community Advisor in residential halls, in that they are the leaders of the different Virtual Cohorts. The VCAs were chosen out of the students who were already hired in the spring of 2020 to work for ResLife as CAs in the fall.

“They are able to do a lot of things your CA would do,” Alldis said. “They are having one-on-one conversations with the students, they are trying to bring together these smaller groups that are based on either what our LLCs are based on or regional ones. … I think it is off to a good start.”

Helen Roane ’23, the VCA of the Transfer Cohort, said, “I really wanted to be a part of trying to make the [Mount Holyoke] community still exist in the virtual setting, because it is a lot harder.” 

“I know that it is really, really hard for people to find a community right now, especially for the people who are living at home,” Delaney Fowler ’21, the VCA of the Outdoor Adventure Cohort, said. “I know a lot of people are living either with friends in an apartment or some people on campus … and there is a community in both of those things in a way that there really isn’t when you are at home, so I really wanted to reach out to those people and try to help them feel some sense of community because it is such a big part of Mount Holyoke.”

Because of the transition to remote learning during the CA hiring process, there were a lot of uncertainties about the outcome of the application timeline. In the process of becoming a CA, one has to submit an application and complete both a group and individual interview. Normally, results would appear around February or March, but with the pandemic, the results took longer.

“We [went] through [the CA hiring process] and then the pandemic happened,” Alldis stated. “Then everyone left campus and we were a little delayed on letting people know who we wanted to hire and who we didn’t, but we sat down and we figured it out. We were then ready to make offers to people and then we were like, ‘Well, we want to offer you this position but we don’t know really what is going to happen.’”

“It was kind of stressful not knowing what was going on,” Lee said. “There was a period of time when I wasn’t really sure if I had the job anymore and it was a little hard. I understand that the people who were working in the offices, of course, had a lot of stress they were dealing with trying to figure out probably as well if we all had jobs still,” Lee added. 

Even with all of the struggles, jobs were given and received and there is now a new community available to students if they so choose. 

“I feel like the virtual community is really fun anyways but they will be more fun as more people want to join,” Roane said. 

“I think that if people are interested in joining a cohort they absolutely should,” Fowler said. “None of it is mandatory — it is all sort of like you opted in. Even if you join it and you choose not to come that is fine, but I think that people shouldn’t be afraid to join just because they think they don’t have time because when you do have time, you can join. I think it might feel a little less isolating.”

The deadline for joining the Virtual Cohorts was Friday, Nov. 6, but there are other ways to stay involved in the campus community. 

“We want the students to stay as connected as they want to stay,” Allidis said. “I really hope that they realize that Mount Holyoke is in their corner all the time. I know it doesn’t always feel that way but I wish that some people could sit in on some meetings that we have been to so they would know how much we talk about how this would impact the students and how hard it is to give them this positive experience. I just want them to know that we really are trying to do everything we can to make their lives easier and to provide the support [and the] resources that they need, and we miss them —  so much.” 

Mount Holyoke Students Share What They Have Been Cooking and Baking From Home

Photo by Ava Provolo ‘22

By Woodlief McCabe ’23

Staff Writer

Without the ease of dining halls and takeout, Mount Holyoke students have found themselves more responsible for their own meals than ever during the pandemic. Restaurant prices and the additional fees of food delivery services have pushed many students to start cooking for themselves. 

Tsela Zoksang ’24 started cooking for herself when she moved out of her parents’ house and into an apartment with a roommate. As a first-year, she has been navigating living alone without the buffer of a dorm experience. At first, she was making instant ramen and ordering takeout, but it started to add up. She realized, “Spending a lot of money on a whole bunch of groceries is probably financially unwise when I could just spend $2 here and there on little things.”

However, Zoksang added, “When you have that every day, like two or three times a day, it ends up getting to be way too much. I didn't want to be spending money so recklessly.” 

Grocery shopping is a very daunting task for Zoksang. She said that she is able to avoid vegetables and other perishables going bad before she could use them by making large batches of each recipe. “When you make a lot of one thing, you can just leave the leftovers in the fridge, and it will last a long time if you make a lot of it,” she said. This doesn’t mean eating the same thing all week, she clarified. 

Aside from being financially beneficial and time-saving, making food provides much-needed downtime. “Cooking is a pretty stress-relieving experience,” she added.

Other students, like Anna Chait ’23, have been cooking since March, when they went back home after campus closed. Chait said, “I started cooking at this time in my life out of force by the pandemic, but honestly, it’s good because cooking is so important and I had been wanting to get into it for years.” 

Although for some students cook for themselves only temporarily in college, it can become a lifelong skill. “Cooking has given me a new life skill, and it has let me get more creative with my dishes,” Chait said. “Also, cooking has helped me to achieve a healthier and cheaper eating lifestyle.” 

Zoksang spoke about “pockets of control,” a concept which explains ways we can find more peace of mind by creating habits and routines. It doesn’t have to be complicated, “working out or whatever it may be, reading a book a certain time in the day, just one or two things to bring a little more consistency to your life and make you feel like you’re in charge,” Zoksang said. For many students who have lost the consistency of simply leaving the house for class, making meals is a good way to reclaim a sense of time and purpose. 

Ava Provolo ’22, who has also been cooking since March, said that she has gained more than just cooking skills and a renewed sense of routine. “I’ve learned my strengths, how to be creative, the importance of food as being joyful. I love making homemade bread and making meals around that,” Provolo said. “Seeing people’s faces when I give them a meal or a platter of something sweet is a great moment.” 

Jaia Colognese ’22 has had a love of cooking since childhood when she spent time at her parents’ Italian bakery in Rhode Island. “My parents have instilled in me an appreciation for food that is homemade and handmade,” she said. “I was taught to cook by example, mostly from watching my parents cook dinner together every night.” 

Cooking is a passion that she has gotten even closer to these past several months. “I spend hours in the kitchen inventing recipes or modifying ones that I come across,” she said. She finds joy in both the process and the end result. To Colognese, sharing her food “is the best part of cooking.” 

Still, as a college student, the recipes she inherited from her family are not always as doable as she would hope. “I grew up in a household that uses the freshest, highest-quality ingredients,” she explained. “If I want to replicate these authentic dishes that my parents and grandparents make, then I need to use these same ingredients, which are often much more expensive.” 

Her lifelong love of cooking has taught her as much. “I've learned that there’s a huge difference between fresh basil and dried, fresh versus canned tomatoes, ripe fruit versus supermarket-ripe fruit, and so on,” she said. “High-quality cheese, fruit, vegetables and meat are definitely a barrier for a student, but I try to use these ingredients because it improves the taste of the food significantly.” 

While the pandemic has separated many from their loved ones, mealtimes are still one of the best ways to connect with others. For some, the pandemic has brought opportunities to make these times even more personal. “Cooking and baking are my love language[s],” Provolo said. She has been experimenting with her own veggie burger recipes. 

Chait has been making all sorts of pescatarian meals and other meatless dishes for her partner, as well as baking, which she says has been a pastime of hers since before the pandemic. Provolo is also baking, preparing for a “12 type [of] cookie marathon” come December, as well as making a fudge and chocolate cake. 

Despite the physical distance, some students, like Zoksang, are connecting to their families through recipes. Zoksang thinks of her father when she cooks. Her father fled Tibet to a refugee school in India where he wasn’t able to cook for himself. 

“Once he actually had the resources to start cooking, he always loved to,” she explained. “In Tibetan culture, cooking and having family time for eating and drinking tea together is a big deal, and so he’s always cooked much more … than my mom did. And I always liked to help him as a kid. We’d make what’s called momo, which is like dumplings.” 

Provolo, who has Italian roots, also recognized the great familial bond that cooking can bring. “Food connects my family together every day at supper,” she said. “I also learned a lot about how to cook from my grandmother, who has shown me most importantly how to put love into food.” 

The way we feed ourselves can help us find routine in the chaotic lives we have been thrown into. We can have time to think about loved ones far away and show our appreciation for the ones we have the fortune to be close to. If you aren’t cooking with your family, friends or partner in the room, the things we add to the food and the people we share it with can still bring the warmth of a shared meal. 

Cooking is an incredibly meditative and productive act in a way that few others are. It also opens up room for creativity through experimentation with new ingredients and ideas. We can make mistakes and burn our food and spill everything and make huge messes. We will never not need to have meals, so why not take the time to create joy and warmth when we can? 

Food is filling, but cooking has the power to be fulfilling.

• Anna Chait — Pumpkin Cookies

 Ingredients

For cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar 

1/3 cup granulated sugar 

1 egg 

1-1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 cups flour 

1 ½-2 teaspoons of cinnamon 

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder 

Walnuts (optional)

 For frosting: 

¼ cup butter

4 ounces cream cheese 

2 cups confectioner’s sugar 

1 ½-2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Tip: I usually add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (especially if using imitation vanilla extract). Also, if you need more frosting but don’t want to double the recipe, you can just add more confectioner’s sugar! 

 Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add pumpkin; mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and baking powder; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely. In a small bowl, beat the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy. Frost cookies and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

• Tesla Zoksang — Jigae (Korean Stew)

(Meat can be substituted for tofu or anything else.)

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 medium potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 1 cup)

1 medium onion, cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)

1 small zucchini, cut into ½-inch pieces (about 1 cup)

1 green Korean chili pepper (cheong-gochu), stemmed and chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 large shrimp, shelled, deveined, washed and coarsely chopped (about ⅓ cup)

2 ½ cups water

7 dried anchovies, guts removed

5 tablespoons fermented soybean paste (doenjang)

6 ounces medium-firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes (about 1 cup)

2 green onions, chopped

Homemade doenjang (집된장)

Instructions

Combine the potato, onion, zucchini, chili pepper, garlic and shrimp in a 1½-quart (6 cups) earthenware pot or other heavy pot. Wrap the dried anchovies in cheesecloth (or a dashi bag, a pouch for stock-making sold at Korean grocery stores) and put them into the pot with other ingredients. Add water and cover.

Cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes or until it starts boiling. If you use a stainless steel pot, it will take less than 15 minutes, about 7 to 8 minutes.

Stir in the soybean paste, mixing well. Cover and cook for 20 minutes longer over medium heat.

Add the tofu and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove the anchovy pouch and discard.

Sprinkle with the green onions and serve as a side dish to rice. Serve it directly from the pot or transfer to a serving bowl. Everybody can eat together out of the pot or portions can be ladled out into individual bowls for each person.

To Zoksang, the most important ingredients are the condiments, like the spices and pastes. That way you can keep your cooking interesting and new without spending a ton of money. She finds the pastes for her Korean cooking at H-Mart, an Asian grocery store near her apartment in Manhattan. 

• Jaia Colognese — Blue Cheese Steak with Cracked Black Pepper

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

2 high-quality (preferably local) ribeye or New York strip steaks

¼ pound of blue cheese, such as Cambozola

3 tablespoons room temperature butter

1 teaspoon finely chopped chives (optional)

2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper (or to taste)

2 teaspoons finely minced garlic

Instructions

Preheat your grill or prepare a cast iron pan for cooking. Pat the steaks dry, cover with a light salt/pepper rub and allow them to sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the butter. Mix room temperature butter with cheese, garlic, chives and black pepper. Set aside for later.

Cook the steaks to your liking, allowing them to rest for about 5 minutes once removed from heat. Plate the steaks, slathering them in blue cheese spread.

Sides to enjoy this with:

Caramelized onions and brussel sprouts

Balsamic-glazed carrots

Oven-roasted potatoes

Mount Holyoke Introduces New Office of Community and Belonging

Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23

By Ansley Keane ’23

Staff Writer

At Mount Holyoke College, there is a particular emphasis on the idea of community. The College has a Community Center rather than a student center and Community Advisors rather than residential advisors. These sentiments are in line with the introduction of the new Office of Community and Belonging. 

In the Oct. 16 edition of “The Dean’s Corner,” Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall’s weekly newsletter, Hall announced the construction of a new Office of Community and Belonging within the Division of Student Life. In her email, Hall noted that the Office of Community and Belonging was created “in [an] effort to further Mount Holyoke’s commitment to building a greater sense of community and belonging for students.” 

Associate Dean of Students for Community and Inclusion Latrina Denson and Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life Annette McDermott serve as co-directors of the Office of Community and Belonging. In a joint statement, Denson and McDermott explained that the Division of Student Life decided to create the Office of Community and Belonging during the summer of 2019. “During this time, we [began] working with an outside consultant to reimagine our work and conceptualize an integrated model for the Mount Holyoke College students,” the statement read.

The Office of Community and Belonging webpage states that “you can find your place at Mount Holyoke” and that creating a “beloved community” is a central goal of the office. Hall’s email and the office’s webpage both emphasize the importance of inclusivity and social justice on campus. 

While the idea of a “beloved community” may seem relatively abstract at first, Denson and McDermott shared what it means to them. In a statement written by both deans, they explained that American author “bell hooks writes that a ‘beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.’”

They continued, “hooks’ understanding is one lens that gives us both inspiration and helps us pay attention to our campus engagement and student experience and see how we can encourage all of who you are to be — we want to celebrate and make space for the whole person who chooses Mount Holyoke College.” 

The Office of Community and Belonging is acting on the idea of a “beloved community” by “provid[ing] programs that support social justice education, dialogue, celebration and identity development including intersectionality, as well as increasing understanding of the role that liberatory consciousness, religion, ethics and spirituality play when working toward reconciliation, racial healing and transformative justice,” according to the webpage. As co-directors, Denson and McDermott shared that they hope this office will mark Mount Holyoke as a place where “every student who enters the gates of MHC will see themselves as part of the community and over time [feel] a deep sense of belonging,” in a joint statement. 

Denson shared that she is especially excited “about engaging more students of color affiliated with the cultural centers in spiritual identity development and the intersections of their cultural and spiritual identities.” She is also looking forward to “the opportunities to continue expanding the Intergroup Dialogue Program here at MHC in collaboration with not only our integrated areas, but Academic Affairs and our visiting lecturer, Molly Keehn.” Denson noted that her “role has been and will continue to be focused on social justice education and training, identity development, and the facilitation of dialogues across different experiences, beliefs, values, and identities. This role, as we reflect on the state of our global community and its impact on our diverse community, is more important than ever before.” 

The Office of Community and Belonging is a collaboration between the Office of Community and Inclusion and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Denson explained that “Community and Inclusion provide opportunities for identity exploration, education, and celebration.” Meanwhile, the Office of Community and Belonging will “[integrate] the model with Religious and Spiritual Life to place intentionality on an intersectional framework. It’s a frame that connects the curricular and co-curricular,” according to both deans. The Office of Community and Belonging will include “a frame where students will learn, grow, and feel like they matter,” Denson said. “We are not only creating an inclusive student community, but a community in which every single person can learn from each other, grow, and develop while feeling that they belong and matter,” she added. 

Cultivating a lasting sense of inclusion and acceptance is not without its challenges, and students are a part of this work. The cultural centers, which are designed to serve as sanctuaries for and support students, the MoZone Peer Education Program, a student-led social justice education program and Intergroup Dialogue, a program that teaches students how to bridge cultural differences, are all part of the Office of Community and Belonging programming. While it is a very new office, it is already attempting to ensure that all students feel welcome at Mount Holyoke by providing a secure space for education and growth. 

“The Office of Community and Belonging seeks to create a student culture of belonging throughout the campus that embraces inclusivity, diversity, and equity and celebrates all of who we are,” Denson and McDermott said in their shared statement. “Our programs and services are oriented toward meeting this goal of building a socially just community.”

“We want the students to know that Community and Belonging is a place where we not only encourage students to ask questions but to embrace their authentic self,” they continued. “A place where they do not have to leave one of their identities at the door, but bring their whole self, to practice, engage with [them] across differences to learn and grow.”

MoHome Sickness: Shared Spaces

Graphic by Trinity Kendrick ‘21

By Tishya Khanna ’23

Staff Writer

Some of us keep our rooms messy, some tidy and some a mix of the two. Nostalgia creeps in as I recollect wanting to make space in my friend’s messy res hall room to listen to music, study or even just sit and chat. Usually we ended up sitting on the floor. When I didn’t feel like walking back to my room on busy days, a friend’s space was a haven I went to for my habitual afternoon naps. 

I’ve never had a meticulously tidy or an entirely messy room. Well, it could be horribly disheveled at times, but it’s usually a combination of orderly and cluttered. I also barely live in my room. I like to think of the campus as an extended, lavish home — the Dining Commons is the kitchen, the library is the study, the Makerspace is the art room, the rooms in Blanchard Hall are offices and the dorms are living areas and rooms to sleep in. It’s a shared living space. There, your friends are your family — your community is your family. 

I also miss the movement itself. Tired of studying? Walk to the Dining Commons, Grab ’n Go or the Cochary Pub & Kitchen to get a coffee or snack. Nice day out? Walk across the lakes. Can’t understand a concept from class? Take a walk to your professor’s building for office hours. Only five minutes left for class? Grab your bag and sprint. 

Now, in quarantine, I appreciate having that space to move freely between places on our small map even more. I liked the freedom to allocate different spots for different purposes, unlike in quarantine, where space is confined. For many of us, our bedrooms are now for studying, sleeping, working, making art, living and everything in between. 

I liked bumping into friends now and then — the casual domesticity of it, the dailyness, the mundanity. A benefit of shared spaces is that your daily frustrations dissolve more easily when others surround you than when you’re by yourself. We’re all struggling to keep pace with our hectic personal worlds: the module system, a pandemic that seems to have no end in sight, the never-ending work. Our common frustrations are now divided into individual ones. When trying to converse with a friend, we struggle to decide upon a time to meet. We have to make more effort than before the pandemic, when we could just walk up to their room or meet them somewhere on campus.

For some of us, the struggle extends further, to a difficult home life, the death of a loved one, declining mental health and more. College is a safe space that, for some, is more of a home than their own. The lack of a physical support system around manifests in wild, unpleasant ways. It’s easier to be kind to yourself when the people around you are kind to you too. An extended hand, a simple knock on the door or a genuine inquiry make an essential difference.

Our shared spaces offer shared emotions and shared tenderness. Sometimes shared misery is laughter. I’d rather be crying about the ever-growing list of things wrong with the world with a friend who’s just as miserable and willing to ease the pain through humor. Then we’d go to the Dining Commons and have ice cream with hot fudge. 

Now our relationships translate to long phone calls and Zoom study sessions. If anything, it brings to light one of the hallmarks of being a Mount Holyoke student: our community. Even when we are miles apart from each other, the faculty and students alike come together with a diligent, ceaseless effort to preserve some virtual version of the shared space so many of us call home.

Mount Holyoke Outing Club Hosts Virtual Screening of the No Man’s Land Film Festival

Pictured above: the No Man’s Land Film Festival Flyer

By Ansley Keane ’23

Staff Writer 

On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Mount Holyoke Outing Club hosted an asynchronous virtual screening of the No Man’s Land Film Festival. The event was free and open to the public. It was also a fundraiser for GirlTrek, an organization whose mission is to use walking and leadership to empower African American women. 

The No Man’s Land Film Festival is a Colorado-based festival that highlights women in adventure sports. According to their website, No Man’s Land “aim[s] to un-define feminine” and “connect like-minded individuals who are action-oriented, wish to support a shared vision of gender equality, have a desire to experience their passions and environments through a uniquely feminine lens, and above all, love adventure.” 

MHOC’s screening of the No Man’s Land Film Festival included a variety of short films about female athletes. The screening opened with “Footsteps,” a short film about a young female boxer and her female coach. The two boxers discussed how they got their start in such a male-dominated sport and how boxing has had an impact on both of their lives. 

The next film, “Refuge,” centered around a rock climber, Piseth Sam, who was born in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia but immigrated to the U.S. as a child. “Refuge” explored how Sam used climbing and nature to understand her identity. Sam described herself in the film as a “queer, woman of color, immigrant, American.” 

Another film featured was “Frosty,” a short documentary about Anna Frost, a top female ultra runner. “Frosty” covered Frost’s experience racing in the Hardrock Endurance Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon that is known as one of the most difficult ultra marathons in the United States, as well as her experience with pregnancy and hopes for motherhood. The No Man’s Land Film Festival included a diverse program of stories. Overall, there was an emphasis on inspiring and empowering stories of driven women athletes. 

MHOC, like all clubs and organizations, is looking for new ways of engaging remotely with their members and the Mount Holyoke community. However, according to MHOC Committee Chair Jess Moskowitz ’22, a film festival or film-related event was something the club had been thinking about doing for a while. 

“We have been trying to come up with ideas of ways that people can be connected to a greater outdoor community,” Moskowitz explained. A central goal MHOC had for screening No Man’s Land was to “give the Mount Holyoke community and the public the opportunity to see some inspiring and interesting stories and narratives about women and people from gender minorities in the outdoors,” Moskowitz said. 

MHOC chose to screen this particular program from the No Man’s Land Film Festival for a number of reasons, namely the ability to collaborate with new organizations and the access to “a broad range of films,” Moskowitz said. Additionally, according to Moskowitz, the program from No Man’s Land was the only closed-captioned program currently offered, and accessibility is a goal for MHOC. 

Instead of simply hosting a film screening, MHOC also chose to fundraise for GirlTrek as part of the event. Moskowitz noted that “GirlTrek is an organization that is really in line with some of our goals as an outing club.” Unfortunately, Moskowitz mentioned that the fundraising aspect had not caught on as much as she hoped it would. “Trying to figure out how to fundraise prior to being remote was an issue, but now even more so, this is something we’ll have to figure out,” Moskowitz said.  

MHOC’s No Man’s Land Virtual Film Festival screening aimed for students and members of the wider Mount Holyoke community to de-stress and learn about a diverse range of women who are pursuing their passions for sport and the outdoors. Moskowitz summarized her hopes for the film festival screening by sharing that, “overall, our goal is hopefully to give people a chance to see a broader swath of the outdoor community and think about their role.”

Pandemica

Graphic by Anjali Rao-Herel ‘22

By Woodlief McCabe ’23

Staff Writer

Staple Meal

If you’re living at home again, or even living in your own place off-campus, making sure you eat well and often may seem like an unattainable goal. There are plenty of ready-made single-serving meals out there that you can microwave or pour boiling water over — but you already knew that, you’re a college student. 

These Troubling Times have thrown us unexpectedly from the coddling arms of the educational institution to the cold harsh world of Getting Groceries Every Week? Oh My God, When Does It End? 

One of the best ways to survive is off of leftovers. What you’re going to want to do is make a large helping of a meal, preferably something simple that will last in the fridge. I make several cups of rice seasoned with lemon pepper and a little tomato paste for color and flavor. I heat up some beans, put it in a bowl with cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and avocado (if I just got paid). It’s filling, tasty and contains the major food groups. Once you’re done, put the rest in the fridge and all you have to do is heat it up when you’re hungry. 

Keeping rice on hand is a lifesaver. If your vegetables are about to go bad, throw them in a stir fry with the rice and an egg, and boom! Fried rice. A pot of soup is also a great choice. Be sure to eat bread or rice with it to feel fancy and make the meal more substantial. 

Bonus tip: dipping pretty much any toasted bread in olive oil will make you feel like you’re a European aristocrat and not someone sitting in their kitchen eating four slices of bread for dinner.

Go Find a Dog

“Go for a walk, get out in nature, go outside!” These are things we always hear when it comes to self-care. And while they are admittedly effective, motivation can be hard to come by. Sometimes it feels like wandering aimlessly outside doesn’t make sense, especially when there are plenty of things to do inside. Instead, make a partial plan. You can run an errand, or find a place to stop and make art, or take photos or eat lunch. If you’re stressed out, sometimes the solitude of just leaving your house spontaneously can really help get your head back on straight. 

The other great thing about the outside is that there are dogs there. 

Figure out where people in your area walk their dogs. You might live near a trail or a walking path. Parks are usually a great spot since you can stop and watch all the dogs come through the park. As long as you have a mask on, a good portion of people will let you pet their dogs or even throw a ball or frisbee for them. Make sure to always ask before you pet the dog, and hold out the back of your hand for them to sniff first.

The Annual Monster’s Ball Goes Virtual

Graphic by Penelope Taylor ‘20

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

The Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra hosted its 10th annual Monster’s Ball as a virtual haunted castle on Oct. 24. The Monster’s Ball is a Halloween dance in which people dress in costume and dance to music played by the orchestra. This year, the virtual Monster’s Ball had about 60 participants. 

“We are doing a very unusual Monster’s Ball this year where I have commissioned Lillie Rebecca McDonough [to compose],” Orchestra Director and Associate Professor of Music Tian Hui Ng said. McDonough is a film composer who got her start as a classical pianist. Ng explained that the students “set themselves up into groups and the groups came up with a concept that they would love to commission [McDonough] for.” Each of those groups then became a breakout room of the larger meeting, also representing the individual rooms in the virtual haunted castle. 

In this unique Monster’s Ball, the orchestra started the dance, as they always have, with a waltz. Participants were encouraged to get up and dance together in the main Zoom room. After the song was finished, Elizabeth Ramirez, the stage manager, assigned every participant a haunted room and the audience would watch a performance by specific groups in the orchestra. 

“We ended up coming [up] with … a constant rhythmic pulse of some sort, to bring intention to the piece, such as the clicking of the clock,” Sarah Day ’22, a music major and president of the Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, said. “I guess from there it took a thematic turn, thinking about what other kinds of sounds we wanted present. It was more what we wanted to represent, which ended up being, ‘Let’s look at fall. What do you think of Halloween?’”

Day added, “You have the one side of warm, pumpkin spice lattes and good feelings versus the creepy, dark, magical, spooky Halloween.”

Day’s group became the Sugar, Spice, Creepy and Mortality room where the participants followed the storyline between good and evil. Some groups had a set storyline, while others used different techniques. One group, who called themselves the Witches, made ink dropping videos alongside experimental music. Another group did a live experimental performance by shining flashlights to create a haunting feel. A third performed traditional waltz music.

“I thought [the Monster’s Ball] was so cool and so interesting as a project,” McDonough said. “Depending on the brief, we really got to do different things together, and I could ask them questions about what sort of things they were hoping to play or how they wanted it to feel,” McDonough further explained the collaboration process with the students. “I took in all that information and got to work in my notation software, printed something out, gave it to them and then they basically all recorded at home separately.” 

“If you can imagine,” Ng said, “the first week of the semester we had auditions, the second week we had the first meeting, the third week [McDonough] met us, to see who we are, the fourth week we decided on the instrumentation. The fifth week [McDonough] started writing and in the sixth week she delivered. In the seventh week we recorded and the eighth week, it was ready.” 

“It was amazing seeing what happened when the music went back to them and they created these videos that were astonishing,” McDonough said. “It was so cool the way they picked up on moments in the music and then worked with it and did something cool. … I was very impressed with the care that they took with it and crafting their vision that really represented what they had in mind. I was blown away.”

“It has been an incredible journey of two months,” Day summarized. “It is hard to pack that much from both the composition and video side to the stage managing side to the board, to the first-years and everyone who keeps coming back. I think that is something we can be grateful for: the community that keeps coming together.”  

‘Writing for TV’ panel features notable Five College alumni

Pictured above: Sarah Walker Amherst College Class of 2003

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

On Oct. 1, Amherst College hosted “Writing for TV,” an event that was extended to Mount Holyoke and Smith students. The panel, hosted on Zoom, consisted of Jenna Lamia, Amherst College ’98, Ashley Soto Paniagua, Amherst College ’11, Sarah Walker, Amherst College ’03 and Leila Cohan-Miccio, Smith College ’05. Carla Costa from the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning at Amherst College served as the event’s host. 

“Sarah Walker, who graduated from Amherst in 2003, actually reached out to me with the idea,” Costa said. “We had met before when I led the students on a career exploration trip to LA exploring the entertainment industry. Alums are often contacted by students and recent grads so they have a timely take on the questions and the concerns that people have about breaking into the industry.”   

During the panel, students were able to ask the alums questions about what it takes to get one’s foot in the door of screenwriting. The advice applied not only to get a job writing scripts for television but also to writing-based jobs in general.

There were over 50 participants in the panel, including students from Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges.  Although the event was open to everyone, it was specifically aimed at people who are underrepresented in the industry, like women, LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities and more.

“We have to take intentional steps,” Costa said, “to actually create change in the entertainment industry, and it starts at every level of professional development, including time as an undergraduate student.”      

While creating this event during the summer, Walker was watching the impacts of the Black Lives Matter movement. “I saw that a bunch of my writer friends were reaching out on Twitter to read Black writers and making an effort to talk to underrepresented writers,” Walker said. “Amherst was the perfect specific, maybe even smaller but very specific place to me that I could make an impact,” Walker added 

From this thought, Walker contacted Jenna Lamia and Leila Cohan-Miccio and asked them to be additional alums on the panel. Walker came to know Lamia and Cohan-Miccio because they all worked together on the show “Awkward.” Soon, Ashley Soto Paniagua, creator of the Raise the Percentage program, called Walker through Amherst connections. 

The Raise the Percentage program was a week-long mentorship of coffee meet-and-greets between Black writers and TV writers. The program was created by Ashley Soto Paniagua, a woman of color who is now a writer for “The Proud Family” on Disney Plus, to help people who are currently underrepresented in the entertainment industry meet people who can help further their career. The name refers to the low number of Black writers on TV shows — 16 percent — compared to the number of white writers on TV shows. 

Walker was one of the mentors in the Raise the Percentage program and was influenced to do something similar at Amherst. “[Paniagua] started that incredible Raise the Percentage program and I was like, if we could do a mini version of that at Amherst, why not?” Walker said. 

“Entertainment is a very relationship-driven industry,” Costa said, “and for students who don’t come from backgrounds where there is already an embedded family network or other professional networks, it’s so important for them to be able to rely on alumni as the first kind of professional network.”

During the panel, the alums talked about making connections with an emphasis on kindness, because that kindness will help build a good reputation in the industry. Walker also talked a bit about how it is very rewarding but difficult work. 

“When you start working in writers’ rooms, it is awesome. Usually, we work for 20 to 40 weeks, depending how long production is … so about a 30 week gig, awesome, but then, you are fully unemployed, like, it is not a vacation, you just don’t have a job and you don’t know when your next job is coming. That uncertainty and that waiting, not knowing what is coming next are really, really difficult,” Walker explained      

However, Walker also explained the upsides of the field of work. “It is so much fun! You get paid to be creative and you get paid very well,” Walker said. “Being on a film set is one of my favorite things; it is such a rush. … It is very cool to see an episode you wrote on television.”      

Costa and the alums stressed the importance of being prepared by doing all you can as an undergrad and having scripts and drafts ready.  

“Go to the Career Development Center,” Costa said. “Talk to someone who can help you identify alumni you can connect with. Look at the tools and resources they have to support you in learning how to network. A frequently asked question yesterday [at the panel] was ‘What do I even ask?’ and those resources exist on the Career Development Center’s website.”   

“You can definitely do it, you are fully capable of doing it,” Walker said. “You have to love it, you have to really want to do it. It is just a lot of trial and error in finding a community and finding people. Writing on your own time, whether it is a script or small pieces, submit to McSweeney’s. I tell everyone, ‘Submit to McSweeney’s, be prepared to be rejected a lot and learn how to deal with that. Try to keep confident and keep developing that voice.’” 

SGA Introduces District Senators To Represent Off-Campus Students

Poster by Phoebe Murtagh ‘21

By Ansley Keane ’23

Staff Writer

On Sept. 21, a senate update was emailed to students that gave new information surrounding the structure of the Student Government Association and announcing the creation of District Senators. Typically, there is a Hall Senator to represent the residents of each residence hall in the SGA senate, but with many students living off campus this academic year, the SGA Executive Board established this new position. District Senators were created so off-campus students will continue to have representation in the SGA senate that relates directly to any concerns they have about their living arrangements. However, District Senators have not entirely replaced Hall Senators; students living on campus will still be represented by Hall Senators in addition to District Senators. 

Phoebe Murtagh ’21 is the chair of halls on the senate team, which is part of the SGA Executive Board. As chair of halls, Murtagh oversees Hall Senators and District Senators in addition to communicating with the Office of Residential Life, organizing Hall and District Senator elections and a number of other duties. In her senate update to the Mount Holyoke student community, Murtagh wrote that “each District Senator will function as a Hall Senator would, representing their constituents’ concerns relating to their living spaces (wherever that may be).” 

“We need at least a representative for off-campus students,” Murtagh explained. “That’s way too much work for one student.” 

According to Chair of Senate Jane Kvederas ’22, the SGA Executive Board decided to create the District Senator role over the summer. “We were trying to figure out what Hall Senators would look like ... given [at least] half the population would be off campus,” Kvederas said. 

The SGA Executive Board chose to create districts based on students’ last names rather than their geographic locations because, according to Murtagh, it was a clear and streamlined way to accomplish the task. Students’ last names are only one piece of data that the SGA Executive Board needed from the College. Using last names also allowed the creation of districts and allocation of District Senators to be as random as possible. Kvederas noted that ideas such as major and class year were considered as well, but the last names idea still had the least logistical issues. 

Additionally, Murtagh made it clear that if the SGA had created districts based on students’ geographic locations, it was possible that certain districts could have more issues that needed attention than other districts. Murtagh gave the example that students living in cities might have fewer problems accessing the internet than students living in rural areas and, therefore, determining districts by last name was “a better way to make a fairly even distribution for the sake of the [District] Senators if we chose something that didn’t have that connection effect.” The SGA elected 12 District Senators and, according to Murtagh, there are around 200 people in each district.

While the District Senator position is a new role, it is similar to the roles of Hall, Organization and Class Board senators. “As with any Senator, the main responsibility is availability,” Murtagh said. Kvederas added, “We want our Senators to participate in senate meetings as much as possible” and that “we expect them to pretty much do as much as possible without stressing them out.” 

The similarities between District Senators and Hall Senators appear to be by design. Murtagh shared that “it was important to me that students living off campus still have living-experience representation. … There have been a lot of issues that the administration hasn’t been able to predict ... because life is complicated.” 

Murtagh also stressed that some Mount Holyoke students have faced challenges that might not be represented by the kinds of data that schools would normally consider. Therefore, it is even more important for Mount Holyoke students to have someone who can call attention to their living space concerns. On-campus students had the opportunity to vote for a Hall Senator for their residence hall and a District Senator for their district. Murtagh explained that “it was still really important that on a hall-to-hall level there was someone to contact,” and that on-campus students need Hall Senators in addition to District Senators because they have specific needs as students living in residence halls. 

The establishment of District Senators in place of Hall Senators for off-campus students is another way Mount Holyoke has adapted to the challenges of the pandemic and a fully remote model. Kvedaras summarized the SGA’s goal for the District Senator role by noting, “We’re hoping that as many students as possible have the necessary support and coverage in terms of having their needs met and their concerns addressed in senate.”

Mount Holyoke Students Share Their Quarantine Projects

By Woodlief McCabe ’23

Staff Writer

This summer and fall looked different for all of us. The time when we would normally be going out and enjoying the company of others was transformed into a time of solitude and anxiety. Mount Holyoke students, just like people all around the world, have found ways to deal with feelings of isolation via the power of creation. Here, students share their work from various media and styles, reminding us that art and creation haven’t gone anywhere. 

Gina Pasciuto ’23 has spent quarantine making embroidery art that she showcases on her Instagram @cursedembroidery. “I’ve been working on embroidery as a way to keep my hands and mind busy since Christmas, and the skills I’m picking up have been very useful during the pandemic,” she said. Her commissions are currently open.

Cadence Cordell ’23 has spent quarantine with a needle and thread. “Sewing has really helped me keep calm during quarantine, and, during Zoom classes, helps me stay focused on the lesson at hand,” she said. “I hand sew the stuffed animals and, with my new sewing machine, have recently started making clothes as well.”

Maggie Kamb ’22 shares her “gay vampire art.” These two characters have been featured in her art before. She describes the first piece as “before quarantine” and the second two as “after quarantine.”

During quarantine, Autumn Lee ’24 opened an Etsy store named SoleilTies where she makes and sells bandanas for dogs. “I pretty much decided to do this because I have recently gotten back into sewing and I have been spending a lot of time with dogs lately,” Lee said. “This seemed like a sensible thing to do.”

Emily Eayrs ’23 has been sketching over quarantine. 

Phoebe Murtagh ’21 has been working on this skull afghan for eight years, but has been especially productive since the end of last semester. “I was working on it in between finishing the semester and finding an internship. At the time my city was pretty much shut down, so audiobooks and crafts occupied a fair amount of my time,” she said. She spent this summer piecing together the hand-crocheted skulls and attaching the long strips of the skulls together in an offset pattern. “The multi-step process and the sheer size of the project is why I've been taking so long at it,” Murtagh said.

In August, Jalia Nazerali-Ruddy ’24 created these two drawings, one of Harry Potter (right) and one of a tiger (left). 

Tory Halsey ’23 has made these oil pastel pieces of natural scenes. Halsey attempts to give Mount Holyoke students a little bit of MoHome sickness with her portrait of Jorge. She has also been constructing a tank for her aquascape where she keeps aquatic snails and plants. 

Students Living on Campus This Fall Share Experiences

Graphic by Trinity Kendrick ‘22

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

On Aug. 7, Mount Holyoke announced that it would not be allowing the vast majority of students to live on campus during the pandemic. The only students who were permitted to remain were those who had applied to live on campus under circumstances that could not be resolved. According to Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall, as of Aug. 13, there were about 180 students on campus. 

“It’s really sad around here,” Samira Khan ’22, who currently lives on campus, said. “It just feels like you are living in a zombie land.” 

Khan, who is from Bangladesh, describes herself as a semi-domestic and international student. She spent part of the summer in Bangladesh and then applied to stay on campus for the school year. When she was approved, she went to spend a week with family near Mount Holyoke. “I was already in this county and I was staying with my relatives [on] just a temporary basis and then, just a week later, [Mount Holyoke administration] said we [were] going online,” Khan said. “I didn’t have a place because it was just a one-week [plan] and this was my only option.” 

This story resonated with others who are staying on campus. Parikshita Gya ’22 is another international student living on campus who was afraid to go home. Gya described not living in good studying conditions back home, a large reason for staying on campus. Additionally, Gya mentioned being “very afraid of [President Donald] Trump pulling one of his cards again and barring us entry.”

Although there are some people who are still on campus on a regular basis, both faculty and students feel that there has been an unwelcome change this semester. 

“It’s just really isolating,” Emily Jones ’23, another student living on campus, stated. “I don’t know, I just think that everyone is trying to get through it.”

“My impression from my horror movie background,” Professor of Biological Sciences Gary Gillis said, “is it just feels like a zombie apocalypse about to start and I am sad that so many people are missing out on this amazing opportunity in this cool space.” Gillis is an associate dean of faculty, the director of the Science Center and a professor in the biological sciences department who is currently working from home.

As a member of the College’s administration, Gillis said, “It was kind of my job to convey to the faculty that this last spring and summer we were really trying to de-densify the campus. … The easiest thing for me in deciding to work from home was kind of just abiding by the philosophy I was telling everyone else.”  

Other professors decided to work from home as well, for the safety of co-workers and students. “The best part [of working from home],” Morena Svaldi, lecturer in Italian and the faculty director of the Language Assistant program, said, “is that I can switch my roles very quickly. The difficult part, I think, is that there is no separation between your personal life, personal space and professional space.”

This is a difficulty faced by students who are still living on campus as well. “Normally I would go to classes,” Khan said. “But now it’s just like, wake up, go to your desk, study and then whenever your lunch or dinner time is, you go out for just that. It’s sad.”  

The rules that are being enforced now are the same rules that all students who were previously planning to live on campus would have to abide by. The only difference is that it is now embedded in the community compact for Mount Holyoke to maintain safety on campus. 

“There are several restrictions and the community compact was [originally] so vague that you didn’t even know when you might breach it,” Gya recalled. 

At the beginning of the new year, there was a miscommunication between Dining Services and Residential Life that resulted in some students unintentionally breaking the community compact by sitting and eating in the Dining Commons. There had previously been no signs or notices about whether that was allowed or not. 

“Trying to have a good day and just having food and then out of the blue someone comes up to you and tells you, ‘Oh, you breached the law on campus, we need to take your name and report you,’ is, in itself, very scary,” Gya said. “Especially for us international students; we have nowhere else to go.” 

After this incident, the students did not get penalized for eating in the Dining Commons, since there was a miscommunication. Signs were put up soon after around the Dining Commons so students would know that they are not allowed to eat there. Students are only allowed to eat outside or in their rooms.

Some dorm kitchenettes are open for students to cook their own food if they want to, which helps offset Dining Services’ limited hours. “Their lunch and breakfast times clash with most class times,” Bineeta Debnath ’23 said.

“As the weather is on our side right now, it is better that we get to go outside and have dinner with our friends who are living in other dorms, but I don’t know what is going to happen during wintertime,” Khan said. “We will be staying in our rooms the whole time; even if we are getting our food, we are coming back to our rooms and we are eating in the same space, so it is going to get toxic.”

Other students such as Jones, Debnath and Gya shared this concern for the mental and physical health of the students living on campus. Students can currently spend time with friends from other dorms by going outside because they are not allowed to enter any dorm that is not their own. They may spend time together in Blanchard Hall, but it has to be socially distanced with masks on.

“We don’t really have a social life,” Gya said. “It is just us in one room and I think [for] people struggling with mental illness, this is going to be really harsh on them.”

According to students living on campus, Residential Life is holding some online events and putting on small get-togethers in dorms to help them feel less isolated. Along with this, according to the students interviewed, those permanently residing on campus are allowed to spend time with people who are in their dorm as well. 

Professors also shared this concern for students’ mental and physical health and are continuing to check in with their students. 

“I really care a lot about how my students are processing this because I know that some students have different situations,” Svaldi said. “This has impacted the way that we learn and recharge ourselves, so my message is to be nice to ourselves and be supportive to those around us.”

Although there are a lot of negative feelings, some students have been able to find the silver linings.

“It’s hard,” Khan said. “Especially the two [COVID-19] tests per week, but it is helping to keep us on track, like ‘Okay I’m safe, my friends are safe, the people I’m sharing the bathroom with are safe.’ … [COVID-19]-wise, the campus is safe and they are taking good care of us in that way.”  

“I am really grateful for the people around me,” Gya said. “As in ResLife people, the professors, people in the Dining Services — I feel like they worked really, really hard. … They are amazing. They are doing so much for us, they don’t even know us and they are so nice. Although they are struggling, they are trying to make your day better. … I think we should all feel really special that they care about us that much.”

MoHome Sickness: A Walk Through the Community Center

Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23

By Tishya Khanna ’23

Features Editor

It’s a fall afternoon. You’re wearing a light sweater, cool breeze blowing through your hair. Your classes have ended and now you have a day to yourself. You’re tired but you have time on your hands, so you lie on the Skinner Green for a while and read your favorite book. But it’s fall, and now it starts to get dark at 4:30 p.m., so you relish the short hour you had outside on the grass and decide to go to the Community Center. Let’s take a walk through Blanch together.

You climb the brick stairs and enter the building from the main entrance — suddenly the cool breeze has disappeared and you’re engulfed with warmth and chatter of a Great Room event.  You peek in from the second floor and head right back on your way. There’s a new exhibition at the Art Gallery — new students showcasing their wonderful art. You recognize the names of the artists mentioned from classes you’ve taken and the meetings you’ve attended and savor the sweet surprise of finding out their talents. 

You want to get some work done, so you decide to go upstairs to the third floor, home to the rooms of various student organizations and departments. There are people all over — some intently working on their assignments, some lying with their heads down on the table, some goofing off in the study rooms, some drawing and writing all kinds of things on the whiteboards.

You bump into familiar faces and sit down for a light chat until everyone has to tend to their million deadlines. You find a comfortable spot and get to work. There’s a certain quietude around — the particular taste of the 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. hour at Blanch when the Dining Commons is closed. At 4:50 p.m., there’s inevitably a long line to get dinner tables. Friends are gathering around, calling each other to come over, saving spots for one another. All the while, you’re on the third floor, immersed in an assignment that just won’t end. 

After a while, you decide to go downstairs to eat and call your friends to ask if they want to have dinner together. You go to the first floor, which is glimmering with lively chatter. There are people sitting around the Scrabble boards. One group is actually playing it! The other board has the tiles arranged in curse words — you can hear the giggles, see the mischievous smiles of the people passing by. The event in the Great Room has ended and a new one is being set up. You notice that the Cochary Pub & Kitchen is playing some good music and your friend is sitting in one of the booths, equally frustrated with assignments. The familiarity dissolves the tension into easy smiles and warm, tight hugs. You spend some time in the cuddle puddle and both decide to finally grab some food together. You gather your things and walk into the Dining Commons. You grab a booth, browse through the hundreds of rotating menu options and then sit for a good meal to end the day over the usual banter. 

Arriving at Mount Holyoke is incomplete without visiting the beloved Community Center. The three floors hold the essence of the community — all kinds of people coming together to do all kinds of things. From random whiteboards where people leave lists of their favorite LGBTQ+ movies to the colorful couches that are good for naps no matter how loud it gets, Blanch is often what keeps all of us together — holding us on tired days, offering junk food and giving us a space to show all our wild colors.